Monday, 22 September 2014

Unless you've been hidden under a rock somewhere then you'll know that ripped jeans are quite a big trend at the minute- everybody seems to be wearing them! I do quite like ripped jeans but I wasn't sure if they'd suit me and I didn't want to pay £40 for a pair that might only be in fashion for a short while. I recently sorted my wardrobe out and came across quite a few pairs of old jeans that I no longer wear, that's when I had a brainwave moment and thought 'why not just rip some jeans yourself?'. So that's exactly what I did and they look almost identical to the ripped jeans that Topshop sell, money saved to buy more clothes- winning. If you're like me and can't justify paying the price for some worn out looking jeans then I'll let you into how you can do it yourself at home...

Equipment: Pair of old jeans (obviously), sand paper and/or a pumice stone and a pair of scissors.

1.) Choose which pair of jeans you want to rip

I'd advise using a pair of old jeans that you no longer wear in case you do rip them and don't end up liking them, that way you haven't lost anything if you didn't wear them in the first place. They don't have to be in perfect condition because you'll be distressing them anyway so it helps if they're a little worn looking to add to the style. Also there's lots of different styles out there so get searching the internet first to see which style you like best! If you have more than one pair of old jeans then practice on the pair you don't want to wear first to make sure you know what you're doing.

2.) Put your jeans on to mark where you want to create the rips

You can use a pen or safety pins to mark exactly where you want to make the rips, you'll want to do this to make sure once you've made the rips they'll sit exactly where you want them to. If you go ripping your jeans before this step then they may well sit where you didn't want them to. They're easier to mark standing up!

3.) Distress your jeans

Now you don't have to do this step if you don't want to but it does help the rips look a little bit less like you've just made a cut into your jeans and left them. To distress your jeans you can use either sand paper or a pumice stone. It does take a bit of time to get the desired effect, especially if your jeans are thick but it is worth it. All you do is lay your jeans flat and rub the area marked until it starts to go thin and worn looking!

4.) Make the holes

This is probably the scariest part because you're panicking in case you do it wrong but it is actually a lot easier than you might imagine. All you do is cut along the mark you made earlier, slowly. Once you've made the hole you just tear it a bit more to make it a little more worn looking and you're finished!

This is how I styled my ripped jeans...

Hope this has helped and you'll soon be working the ripped jeans look in no time. What do you think to ripped jeans making a reappearance in the fashion world? Lauren x